In the end, you can’t hold a wild horse back, so winger Taylor Hall will return to the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup Thursday night against Tampa, 17 days after spraining his left knee. It’s well ahead of the four-week prognostication after the second-degree sprain when hit by Eric Gryba, likely because Hall is a fast healer and he hates sitting.

Hall will have to wear a brace on his knee the rest of the season, but that’s a small price to pay to be back, for Thursday’s game on a line with Sam Gagner and Nail Yakupov. Yes, Yakupov is playing after some debate about whether he’d be out and perhaps Linus Omark in. As it turns out, Omark will also play his first game since the 2011-2012 season, so the Oilers will take out fourth-liners Will Acton and Ben Eager, shuffling people around to accomodate Hall and Omark’s insertion.

Hall, who has missed seven games, was targetting for the weekend, but he got the green light from the medical staff to push it ahead one game. He’s been flying around the rink for a week now but was in a yellow (not-ready-to-go) jersey Wednesday. Obviously, he convinced the trainer T.D. Forss he was a player, and so he will be.

Judging by coach Dallas Eakins’s penchant for playing his big guns, big minutes (Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, David Perron) over 20 a night, he probably won’t ease Hall in in his comeback game. RNH played 28 of a shootout win over New Jersey in game three in his return from shoulder surgery and Gagner almost 22 in his first game against Toronto after busting his jaw.

Eakins said he would monitor Hall early but would have no trouble throwing him over the boards for 20 minutes or so.

“When they’re cleared to play they’re cleared to play. He’s not cleared to play 12 minutes,” said Eakins.

Gobs of ice-time are fine with Hall, who was averaging 21.28 before he got hurt in Ottawa Oct. 19.

“I was aiming for Saturday against the Flyers (Philadelphia) but at the practice yesterday I thought I was ready ,” said Hall, falling back on the old bystander theory as he why he pushed it. “When you’re out and injured it’s a really different feeling as a hockey player.”

“Hallsy is always in the fight as a player and there’s been a number of nights when the players on the bench and the guys behind the bench were looking for No. 4 and he wasn’t available to us,” said Eakins.

He scoffed at the four-week diagnosis for the knee sprain. “You always think you can get back sooner. I had a goal of three weeks when it first happened and I’m back sooner,” said Hall, who will wear a brace on the knee to protect it.

“It’s a little clunky but it makes the knee feel more stable. I don’t notice it out on the ice,” he said.

Omark’s call-up was a while coming. They had brought Jones back from OKC after the first five games. They had given Eager another shot after he started the season in the minors. They had taken a look at Ryan Hamilton before and after he hurt his knee. The conspiracy theorist would say Omark is up to be show-cased for a trade, especially with Hall ready now and Jesse Joensuu (ribs) maybe a player in Philly, but whatever, he’s in on the third line with Boyd Gordon and Mark Arcobello.

The Oilers are going against maybe the biggest defence in the league with the first pairing of Victor Hedman (6’6″, 233) and Sami Salo (6’3′, 215) and the second group of Eric Brewer (6’4″, 216) and the nasty piece of business Radko Gudas (6′, 204). They’re sitting 6’8″ Andrej Sustir (10 games) and the 6’6″ Keith Aulie, too.

They’re lineup looks small but we’ll see. Omark, who was leading OKC in points, has some history against the Lightning. He scored that spinarama (at centre) shootout goal that the Tampa players griped about in a game at Rexall Place. In two career games, he has two points. He knows he’s under the gun, although Eakins isn’t looking for instant offence.

“The mandate for the team is to play defence first and that’s been clearly outlined to our whole team. The new guys coming in will have to play like the group did in Florida (Tuesday),” said Eakins.

There was some thought to moving Arcobello (12 points) from RW to his normal centre on a third line and shuttling Gordon back to a fourth with lots of work on face-offs and PK, but Eakins will go with Ryan Smyth in the middle on a fourth unit to start. Ryan Jones, who has played with RNH and Gordon, will be on one wing and Luke Gazdic on the other. “I’ve told Smytty and Ryan I’ll see how the game’s going physically…I’m not adverse to running any of our centres down to that line to play with them,” said Eakins.

“Doesn’t matter to me. The only thing I care about is am I playing?” said Smyth.

Gagner continues to struggle to get his legs and his hands working after missing the first 13 games. It’s like he’s coming to a party three hour after it’s started and he’s in catch-up mode. In three starts, he doesn’t have a point and is minus 6, but he’ll still be a centre and Arcobello, who was No. 2 centre when Gagner was out, will stay on right-wing.

Eakins said Perron (neck) might fly in to join the club this weekend. Defenceman Justin Schultz (groin) still isn’t skating with the team and is doubtful for the Philly or Chicago game Sunday. Anton Belov (knee) did skate in the morning practice Thursday so he’s closer.

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One of the quiet, under-the-radar stats for the Oilers is defenceman Nick Schultz’s plus/minus. On a team solidly minus, he’s an even player, playing almost 17 minutes a game. He’ll continue to mentor Taylor Fedun against the Lightning.

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